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Chicago's
best new homes by Barry Pearce |
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The most difficult
choice for this year’s New Homes Awards was in the category of best
new highrise. This is a problem we were more than happy to struggle with
because it points to the vast strides in design the city’s developers
and architects have taken in constructing our most prominent buildings.
Don’t be too
encouraged. Most residential highrises being built today are still terribly
mediocre, throwbacks to the past, cheap imitations, anodyne shadows of
what its very name insists a skyscraper should be – a building that
projects not ostentation or ego, but certainly pride. Not long ago, however,
it was tough to find a single new residential highrise that was even mildly
interesting. Today, there are at least half a dozen worth watching, including
several by companies that were once among the worst offenders. In the end we settled
on 340 on the Park for its combination of smart design, aesthetic unity,
green features and stunning location overlooking Millennium Park and the
lake within the new Lakeshore East community. But MCL’s new Park
View, a soaring silver-and-glass tower with a graceful curve, received
serious consideration, as did Trump Tower, which dramatically improved
its initial design and responded surprisingly well to its riverfront site
with what’s becoming a legendary development. Developer William
Smith – one of the very few Chicago builders consistently developing
progressive residential projects – has done it again with a tower
that has the unfortunate sobriquet MoMo (short for Modern Momentum). Designed
by architect Larry Booth, the highrise’s muscular frame and compelling
central voids will make a powerful statement in its high-profile location
on State Street. What’s in a name, anyway? The first Museum Park
buildings by the Enterprise Companies in the South Loop’s Central
Station community were aptly named – both for their ersatz neoclassicism
and their Disney-like suburban flavor. What a nice surprise then to see
the impressive renderings for the new 23-story Museum Park Place, with
its walls of glass, exposed steel, bold diagonal lines and postmodern
accents. Architects Pappageorge Haymes followed this winning design with
another homerun: the 61-story One Museum Park, a tower that curves and
unfolds with the grace of a flower and in which form follows function
to a degree approaching brilliance. The good news for
us in every other category – lofts, townhouses, mid-rises and single-family
homes – was that the selections didn’t take long. The bad news
is that the speed of process is matched by the dearth of product. The
economics of building new housing in Chicago today means that townhouses
and single-families don’t make sense for most developers in most
locations. Last year saw a resurgence
in loft product, but so far in 2005, no major new loft projects have been
announced. Close to two-dozen loft developments have at least some units
remaining for sale, but some of these projects are nearing sellouts, and
the shortage of buildings suitable and available for conversion downtown
means new lofts will continue at a trickle compared to the flood of the
late ‘90s. Mid-rise condo buildings
continue to be built and the best of them are easy to ignore. The worst
– and these tend to be the largest – are a blight on the blocks
where they sit. There are, however, some attractive mid-rises, which offer
comfort and security on a more intimate scale than highrises, and the
colorful Catalpa Gardens topped our list. In making our selections,
the editorial staff considered everything from location and floor plans
to amenities, architecture and pricing, imagining that we were buyers
of new construction. We chose projects that scored well in every category
and so represented the best available housing. Our choices admittedly
are subjective, but we think that the following projects would at least
be good starting points for anyone in the market for a new home.
LR is using environmentally
friendly building materials and renewable resources, such as bamboo flooring,
and it designed 340 on the Park with highly efficient mechanical systems,
a construction waste-recycling program, an irrigation system that uses
rainwater and other green features. There’s no shortage
of literal green either since the tower overlooks Millennium and Grant
Parks on one side and perches across from the new park in Lakeshore East
on the other. To the east, lest we forget, is the lake and to the west,
Michigan Avenue’s wall of historic architecture. The building offers
a nearly unbroken span of glass facing south and angling gently east to
maximize views. In an unusual approach, LR has coordinated a single unified
interior with the exterior in an effort to meet buyers’ tastes, maintain
the building’s integrity and deliver a truly complete product. At press time, remaining
condos ranged from $315,000 for a one-bedroom with 1.5 baths to nearly
$4 million for a four-bedroom penthouse with 5,500 square feet and 5.5
baths. The building will include retail space, a fitness center, a 25-yard
lap pool, a winter garden and a 25th floor clubroom.
Given space limitations,
we’ll mention just a few. 1. The downtown loft
market has been so thoroughly picked over that many of the buildings now
being converted don’t translate well into residential space. At No.
Ten Lofts, on the other hand, MCZ and partner Centrum Properties offer
some wide, well-lit floor plans in a 266-unit true loft building with
heavy timber beams, hardwood floors, oversized windows, high ceilings
and exposed brick. 2. Architects Hartshorne
& Plunkard designed 109 different floor plans for the building, so
very few residences will be the same. Built in 1920, the vintage four-story
main loft building on Adams between Morgan and Aberdeen features three
private landscaped courtyards – a rare chance for peace in a busy
urban location. 3. No. Ten Lofts is
a “lifestyle development.” While we’re not completely sure
what that means, there are some seriously creative perks to this project.
Membership in the “Owners Club” includes access to a large party
room, a fitness center, a café, a restaurant-style kitchen, a billiards
room, a barbecue patio and a private large-screen DVD theater. Buyers
will shape the activities offered in the building, but so far, plans call
for lessons in salsa and “spinning” on site. The unit mix ranges
from a studio of 640 square feet to a 1,845-square-foot two-bedroom with
a den and two baths. Prices begin in the low $200s. In addition to large
floor plans and free parking, the standard finishes include granite countertops,
hardwood flooring, stainless steel appliances, custom cabinets, and balconies
or terraces.
The three brightly
colored 11-story buildings at Catalpa Gardens display the same sort of
flamboyant style that marked the nearby Edgewater Beach Hotel and an earlier
heyday in the north lakefront neighborhood. The division into
three buildings breaks up what could have been an unwieldy block of a
structure, (the glass walkways and paint pattern do the same thing), and
more important for buyers, this configuration creates 12 coveted corner
units per floor. The developers William A. Lockhart, Charles Cornelius
and Reza Toulabi and sales agent Sheldon Good Brokerage have done a good
job of anticipating their market. The condos have one
or two bedrooms, 1.5 to two baths and private balconies or terraces, base
priced from the $150s to the $360s. Features include hardwood floors in
living areas, gas fireplaces with stone hearths (per plan), ceramic tile
baths, Moen bathroom faucets, granite countertops, maple cabinetry and
GE stainless steel appliance packages.
Developer William
Warman’s $22 million McKinley Gardens project will include 69 townhouses
overlooking three private parks on a 2.5-acre site at 3250 S. Western,
in the Near Southwest Side neighborhood of McKinley Park. The development’s
three pocket parks – Ellipse Garden, West Garden and East Garden
– will include a playground, a gazebo, a dog walk and park benches. In addition to overlooking
this 10,700 square feet of green space, the homes are a short walk from
the 69-acre McKinley Park, at 37th and Western. The park recently underwent
a $2.5-million renovation and includes a swimming pool, a lagoon, a skating
rink, baseball and softball diamonds, tennis courts and running paths. McKinley Gardens is
that rarest of projects, one with a truly descriptive name. It’s
also rare to find a townhouse development that offers families this sort
of open space at this sort of price point. In May, pre-construction prices
ranged from the $280s to just under $300,000, although they were expected
to increase soon. In Lakeview, those prices will get you an unremarkable two-bedroom condo. Here, they fetch a brick townhouse with three or four bedrooms, a 1.5- or two-car garage, a private yard and 1,782 to 1,900 square feet of space. With granite counters, hardwood floors, kitchen islands and large master suites, these units promise comfortable, efficient homes – something that’s become extremely difficult to find in the city for families earning less than six-figures.
Some of the earliest
buyers at the development of 400 homes at 33rd and Racine, in Bridgeport,
already are buying “move-up” houses within the community, and
they’re reporting quick appreciation on the units they sell. The masonry and stone
homes are traditional, with bay windows, front porches, arched entryways,
limestone windowsills and large freestanding garages. The look has been
varied by using three different architecture firms – Linden Lenet
Land Designs, Group A Architects and Sonoc Architects – and by varying
heights, gables, rooflines and other features. Prices start in the
$660s for a four-bedroom model of about 3,400 square feet, in the $870s
for a five-bedroom of 5,700 square feet and at more than $1 million for
homes of more than 6,300 square feet. The homes have a high
level of finishes and numerous upgrade possibilities, but it’s the
scale of Bridgeport Village – both of its houses, with their basements,
bedrooms and garages, and of the site, with its landscaped medians and
parks – that’s most impressive.
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340
on the Park
No.
Ten Lofts
Catalpa
Gardens
McKinley
Gardens
Bridgeport
Village